Employee Awarded RM71,500 After Being Discriminated Against & Fired Without Fair Reason
The court said the employer's aversion towards the employee was clearly seen in his own written submission.
By May Vin Ang — 22 Jul 2024, 03:07 PM
The Industrial Court has awarded an employee RM71,500 in compensation after ruling that he was unfairly dismissed by his employer in Klang
The employee, Janarthen Subramaniam, had claimed that his employer, Auto Abundance Sdn Bhd — and more specifically, the company's finance director Yim Kai Keong — had terminated him in March 2022 without fair reason.
In a court award document dated 11 July, court chairman Paramalingam Doraisamy said, "It is rather unfortunate for Yim to have played the racial card in justifying his action in dismissing the claimant from his employment."
As grounds for dismissal, Yim, who represented the company in the proceedings, claimed that Janarthen had flouted company rules by failing to use the punch card machine, smoking and drinking during work hours on company premises, and even challenging Yim to a physical fight when questioned about his work ethic.
Janarthen joined the company in 2012 and served as an administration staff before resigning as a quality assistant six years later.
He rejoined the company in 2019 in the same capacity with a monthly salary of RM3,500 before being terminated in March 2022.
To justify the dismissal, the company had attempted to produce photo and video evidence of the employee's alleged misconduct, but the court ruled the evidence inconclusive
"The photos show a few empty cans of beer placed on top of a chair. There is no one in the photos, and certainly not the claimant. These photos are not conclusive proof that it was the claimant who consumed the beer," said Paramalingam in his 25-page award.
The court chairman also said one of the videos only showed the claimant sitting down at an area outside the company's compound, smoking and drinking on a Saturday, after work hours.
A video submitted to prove that Janarthen had challenged Yim to a fight had also been edited, with a witness admitting to the court to have cut out a part where the employee said he did not want any confrontation with Yim and had walked away.
As for not using the punch card machine, Janarthen testified that the time attendance system was not implemented during his tenure, and that management staff such as him were not subjected to use it, according to company policy.
"[The punch card system] was only introduced around July 2022. This was also corroborated by the company's other director, Muralidharan Visvanathan Nair," said the court.
Paramalingam called Janarthen's dismissal "unfortunate" and was likely a result of a deadlock in the company's management between its two directors, Yim and Muralidharan
"The claimant had clearly been victimised by Yim, when in fact Yim's actual grouse is against Muralidharan. Due to the disagreement between the two directors, the claimant had to pay the price," the court chairman said.
He added that Yim's aversion is clearly seen in his own written submission to the court, where he made racially-charged statements against both Janarthen and Muralidharan.
In a document submitted to the court, Yim had written: "The claimant deliberately refused to take instructions from the company and disrespected his co-workers because he had a 'godfather' of the same race who would defend him."
Paramalingam said it was evident that Yim's issuance of four termination letters to Janarthen within one month, without Muralidharan knowing he had done so, also showed the "haste and desperation in which Yim was trying to get rid of the claimant".
Janarthen was awarded RM71,500, made up of 23 months' back wages since he was dismissed with a 20% reduction, as well as two months' salary compensation just prior to being wrongfully dismissed.
